Yann Martel is much smarter than I am. You might have been wondering that. It's true. He is much smarter and all sorts of cleverer. Evidence of this is that he has taken it upon himself to send Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, a book "known to expand stillness" every two weeks. A log of each of these selections along with a letter establishing his reasoning behind each book choice can be found at: http://www.whatisstephenharperreading.ca/
Trust me. It is very good reading. It has me wondering which books I might send George W. Bush and what theme I might choose. I respect the role of the president enough to understand he or she doesn't have much time for reading, but then again, this president sure does take long vacations. He could read then. Certainly he ought to read more about people who are different from him, which is just about everybody not in his "base." And certainly he ought to read about the value of the environment beyond sporting purposes. Toward these ends, I am putting out a possible list:
1. Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams
2. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
3. The Light the Dead See by Frank Stafford
4. Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron
5. The Little House on the Prairies series
6. Coming into the Country by John McPhee
7. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
8. 1984 by George Orwell
I need another truly female book. I'm at a loss at present. That's okay. I can keep adding.
5 comments:
How about 'Are You There God, It's Me Margaret'? It was certainly infulential in my development, and I figure it's about at his reading level. My 10 year old niece loved it!
How about Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit?
And one more...would you care to trace the pathway that led you to this site--What is Stephen Harper reading?
I'm embarrassed that I neglected to include Jeanette Winterson, who has so mightily taken up residence in my mind of late.
And yes, I'd be happy to tell you the pathway I took to that site it is perhaps my all-time favorite site. Primarily, it's a music blog, but it has plenty on great authors as well - in fact, it frequently discusses what music authors are listening to while creating certain books. Enjoy!:
http://blog.largeheartedboy.com/
To be honest I feel this is a good idea but it is in vein. I am not at all convinced George can read. Blynn
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